William Hogarth, The Harlot's Progress

1733

Intro

Many vulnerable young girls were forced into prostitution through their failure to secure work, or were otherwise tricked into the occupation by the promise of respectable employment. This image is from Hogarth's famous series of prints the Harlot's Progress, which tells the story of a woman coming to London from the country, taking up prostitution, being sent to prison and eventually dying of the sexually transmitted disease, syphilis.

In London, scores of street walkers plied their trade up and down the Strand, and swarmed the theatres and taverns of the capital. Dozens of infamous bawdy-houses could be found up narrow alleyways and down side streets, and even ships moored on the Thames were sometimes converted into brothels.